The celebration, called Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday, will take place on March 28, Italy's ANSA news agency reported.

"In his ministry as archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Bergoglio [now Pope Francis] used to celebrate this mass in a prison or hospital or home for the poor," said the Vatican in a statement. With the mass inside Casal del Marmo, "Pope Francis will continue the tradition, which should be characterized by a context of simplicity."

The pontiff will also commemorate Jesus Christ's Last Supper with his apostles with a mass inside St Peter's Basilica before he heads to the juvenile detention center, ANSA said.

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